Law & Order: Youngkin Now in Court for Illegal Assault on Climate Law

Now that Gov. Glenn Youngkin has moved forward with trying to wreck Virginia’s keystone climate change law, it’s time for his administration to stand in court and explain themselves. It won’t be easy for them, given that the climate law—linking Virginia to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI)—was passed by the legislature, which the Commonwealth’s governor is duty bound to follow. 

Youngkin’s bizarre, pro-polluter crusade reached a crescendo last month: His regulation to attempt to undo the RGGI law became technically official, aka “final.” That means any of the many, many folks that would be harmed by Youngkin’s destructive act—that is, anyone concerned about pollution and climate change—can take Youngkin to court for his unlawful attack on the rule of law. And that’s exactly what has happened. 

Here’s what to expect as Youngkin’s illegal attempt to withdraw the state from RGGI moves through our judicial system:

The legal eagles at the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) filed a robust challenge to Youngkin in Fairfax circuit court on August 21. That filing marks the beginning of the wheels of justice slowly turning. 

And since Youngkin’s bogus attack on RGGI would most likely become effective before the circuit court case is heard, SELC has also filed for near-term protection from Youngkin’s harmful attack. They did so by filing for "intermediate relief," asking the court to stay, or pause, Youngkin’s illegal maneuver, in the near-term. That way, harms can be avoided, even before the larger court challenge is fully heard. 

And this harm to Virginians would indeed be significant: to date, RGGI has lowered carbon pollution in Virginia by 16%. At the same time, it has provided more than $700 million—paid by Virginia’s biggest air polluters—to help prepare for worsening climate flooding, extreme weather, and sea level rise. Since extreme weather, turbocharged by climate change, increasingly rages around all of us, it’s particularly important to prevent Youngkin’s machinations from becoming effective in the near-term. 

To protect those benefits provided by RGGI, the court will likely hear from the parties in the next several weeks and render a decision soon thereafter on whether to pause, or “stay,” Youngkin’s action and let RGGI stand in the meantime. 

As for the larger court case to permanently throw out, once and for all, Youngkin’s bogus attack on the RGGI law, that will proceed under a longer timeline than the request for a near-term “stay.” 

The Youngkin administration (represented by the Attorney General’s office) predictably filed a handful of procedural delay tactics last month, trying, for example, to challenge the aggrieved parties’ “standing,” or legal right, to sue the Youngkin administration. (These delay tactics are predictable, given that the Youngkin administration wants to avoid trying to explain itself to the court for as long as possible!) 

Assuming Youngkin's delay tactics fail, the administration must then send over the full “record” of how it undertook its attack on RGGI. After that, the full court case on the legality of Youngkin’s attempt to remove Virginia from RGGI through regulation (when it was in fact put in place by law) will likely be heard in early 2024. 

The main issue for the judge to decide is whether a governor has the authority to undo a law passed by the General Assembly. A decision on that very key constitutional question will hopefully be rendered by early summer. 

Once justice prevails in 2024, Virginians can breathe a sigh of relief that polluters—and their steadfast ally in Youngkin—are not above the law, especially a law that is already serving and protecting all Virginians, and has been since 2021. NRDC will keep a close eye on the proceedings, both to celebrate the excellent work of the legal eagles at SELC, and to make sure we hold Youngkin accountable for his anti-climate mischief, whatever the court case’s outcome.